Java technology was created as a programming tool in a small, closed-door project initiated by Patrick Naughton, Mike Sheridan, and James Gosling of Sun in 1991. But creating a new language wasn’t even the point of “the Green Project.”

The secret “Green Team,” fully staffed at 13 people, was chartered by Sun to anticipate and plan for the “next wave” in computing. Their initial conclusion was that at least one significant trend would be the convergence of digitally controlled consumer devices and computers.

a great article written by Naughton…“Our goal for that business plan was simple. Remove variables, remove adventurous new markets, stop talking about building hardware, and stop talking about consumers sitting on their couches in front of a mythical interactive television. In January of 1994, it was as clear as it is today, that the Microsoft/Intel PC and the PowerMacintosh had become the consumer electronics devices we had been looking for. Mike Sheridan’s premise in 1990 had turned out to be wrong: consumer electronics companies would not rise up from the primordial ooze of 4 bit microcontrollers, which leave VCR’s blinking 12:00, but rather the PC industry would gain the consumer marketing and design savvy to be able to out-sell televisions. Best case would be when they meet in the middle — in some sort of dumbed down TV based PC.”